Alice Casey (London, involve): It is becoming clear that in facing the urgent challenges of issues as complex and deep rooted as public health provision, climate change, community cohesion and terrorism, top down government alone is not equipped to deliver an effective solution. There is growing agreement that progress on such issues can only be made through the willing participation of empowered individuals and communities as in formulating and implementing new solutions. Connecting people more closely, more meaningfully and more effectively with the institutions that serve them has never been more important than in today's Britain.
Involve is a not for profit organisation which specialises in understanding and supporting public and stakeholder participation in such decisions. We work with organisations and groups across the public realm to ask how best to renew and reform public services so that they are able to engage with the public to achieve such shared outcomes. Addressing these issues will require both a practical change in how governance works and a cultural shift to recognise the importance of participation for both citizens and civil servants alike. This requires understanding of how to create and improve the mechanisms for engagement used by public services and how to fit participation into the everyday lives of time squeezed citizens with families and jobs. Above all, the public themselves should be involved in the design and implementation of such processes if they are to take place in more innovative and accessible ways than, say, a town hall meeting on a weekday evening. Without innovation, without accessibility and without ownership, why would any individual or community group be willing to give up valued time to take part?
People and Participation is a new resource to help people across the country influence Government decision-making. The site combines the strengths of an expert guide to participation with the interactivity and user generated content enabled by a wiki approach. The site is a creative space where officials, councillors and active citizens can share experience and pool ideas in order to raise awareness and to increase best practice in participation. It's more than just an information giving website (although there is a library of case studies, news, methods and resources from around the world): it features an interactive planning tool to help practitioners select participatory methods based on specific circumstances, has the ability for site users to post their own information, and features an ‘ask an expert' function which allows questions to be posted directly to an expert on participation.
We hope that this new resource will go some way to joining up and sharing information and best practice across the participation field. Take a look at the site, and let us know what you think.
